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Sunday, October 16, 2016

Travel Diary Part 3.1: Helsinki /// Hellocon, Modeling & more!

Hello & welcome back to another part of my 2016 travel diary ^_^

I am waaaaay behind with everything, but my goal is to finish writing up all my travel experiences before December XD And in this case, even if it's been quite some time, I had a good time and I want to preserve this memory here!

So, as I told you last time, there was a third city starting with "H" that I visited, and of course many already knew or guessed that it was Helsinki! ^_^

The occasion was Hellocon, and it was my first time traveling to another city for a big Lolita event, and also my first time visiting Helsinki in summer. It was interesting and a little bit strange for me, to see the city without any snow, haha. But it is just as beautiful!

As
the plane approached the Finish coast, and I saw lush green forests
spanning to the horizon, my heart made a little somersault - it felt
like going home after such a long time. It made me incredibly happy to
be back! I was traveling with Franzi,
a fellow Austrian Lolita who lived in Finland for a student exchange
for one year during high school - so we both had some experiences living
here and some stories to tell :) It was great fun!

After arriving, we checked in our hotel, which was also the venue for the Lolita Tea Party on the second day of Hellocon, and went for a walk through town. Later, we met with our third room mate, Tanja, who was modeling for Baby the Stars Shine Bright and had already had a rehearsal. It was really cool to share the room with two other people who were also going to the events! :D

The room was filled with frills XD The wardrobe could barely fit everyone's outfits for two days, especially since I had to bring 4 petticoats (two each color because they lack poof...)

So, on Saturday morning I had to get ready a bit earlier than the other two girls, because I was picked to model at the Indie brand fashion show, and we had our rehearsal and fitting just before the event! On that day, it was raining, so I walked through town in my pink dress, pink high heels and a rose-patterned umbrella between people dressed mostly in grey and black XD it was quite the funny sight I guess. I was super happy that I remembered to bring the umbrella! But after getting soaked after my arrival in Heidelberg, I wouldn't make that mistake again!

My skin was really bad that day and I had huge shadows under my eyes .___. Photoshop to the rescue XDAlso, I had planned on wearing circle lenses but my eyes were so dry after the flight that I barely managed to get my normal lenses in ;___;

Unfortunately, there is no photo of my outfit from that day, except for this derpy mirror selfie *snif* But I really like the dress, so I plan on wearing it again soon! The wig was almost a bit too dark, but it's the "blondest" I had available back then. I look forward to wearing this coord again sometime soon!

At the venue, there was some free time before the rehearsal would begin, but there was not much to do, as they were just about to finish the decorations, and vendors were preparing their stalls. Then, finally I got to met the person who picked me to model for their brand! The lovely Lav from Eat Me Ink Me had just announced her Magical mermaid series, but also had lots of other beautiful designs, and I was excited to see what I would get to wear. I was super excited when I saw that I would wear the Midnight Rhapsody dress ♥ Unfortunately it's not available anymore. I had already checked the blackxsilver dress before, even before I learned I would model for the brand, because I was looking for black dresses that would match with silver shoes. So, even if I didn't get to buy it, at least I got to wear it for some time ^__^ And oh boy, it is even more beautiful in real life!
The other two models were definitely perfectly picked for the outfits they wore - beautiful Kerttu with her blue hair, and Oxana (if I understood correctly, she is the person behind My Inspiration and also meade the beautiful embroidered brooch that I was wearing) with the flair of a fairytale mermaid princess - so I hope I also presented the outfit well ^__^

The little golden details were so lovely, I especially liked the halfmoon on the headband ♥ Gold is not really my color - but I would wear the hell out of the blackXsilver dress!

Oh, and the craziest part was probably that I was the very first one to walk out! Good thing it was not my first time modeling or I would have died from nervousness and tripped over my own feet I guess XD If you would like to experience me being derpfaced in motion, check the video below!

With designer Lav and the other models /// Picture taken by Sanni Siira

After the fashion show, there was finally time for me to relax, shop
and enjoy the rest of the program. The Baby fashion show, where Tanja
was modeling, was especially amazing. The outfits were like straight out
of fairy tales! I just sat there in awe and I have to say, thought I
enjoy modeling a lot, I could really see that even after the third time
doing it, there was still a lot I could learn to improve my performance,
haha! But all in all, I was also very motivated to apply for modeling
again at the next occasion, because it's also a lot of fun and always
very exciting to see what outfit you get picked for :3

Other interesting parts
of the program were the Q&A with the designer, and the "Frog Prince
Play", for which Cloudberry Lady designed and made the outfits. I found a
video of it, if you enjoy it, please head to youtube and give it a like ^_^

The program was really lots of fun! Besides a Best Outfit Contest, there was also a "Bow-tying Competition"....

Bow-tyingaction! /// Photo by Robert Johannesson

It was a little bit crazy but lots of fun XD At first they seemed to have some troubles finding enough participants - perhaps also because not all dresses have waist bows - so I just decided to give it a try because mine had them. The task was to tie your bow behind your back within 30 sec. Then they were judged based on their shape etc, - and I won! :D I was really lucky that I wore a dress with waist ties that have the print on both sides ^^" And the fabric of my dress was really soft and easy to use. Not sure if I would have managed with any other dress :'D

Austria may have lost the soccer tournament at that time - but I brought home the title of Bow Tying Champion! XD

I guess everyone was a bit sad at the end of the event, because the organizers had already announced that it would be the last Hellocon :( I was saddened too, because I really would have loved to go again next year. After all, it's a perfect excuse to visit Finland and buy tons of Finish sweets and other food, haha :D I still remember when I got the flyer for the 2013 Hellocon during my Erasmus - which I missed, because I left for Austria just the week end before :( Now in the end, I only managed to attend one Hellocon over the years, but well, it was a lovely event and such a nice memory to make!

The only thing I REALLY regret was that I didn't have the courage to talk to more people ;____; But as usual, I am intimidated when I see beautiful people all around me, and then I am too scared of talking to them or asking them for a photo :< But I did manage to muster my courage to talk to the lovely Saija ♥ She is just as adorable and pretty in real life as in her photos X3 I am happy we got to take a picture together!

So as the event came to an end, we browsed the stalls for one last
time, and I ended up buying quite some things. It was my first Lolita
event since I had my salary raise and I had absolutely no guilt when
spending money, haha XD We were pretty exhausted and hungry afterwards, and quickly went back to our hotel room to dress in more comfortable clothes.

Hellocon Haul! I was prepared to spend more money, for a dress or something, but I couldn't find anything that I really wanted very badly, so I decided to stock up on accessories and smaller things ^^ The Baby necklace was in the price bag for the Bow Tying competition, and the Eat Me Ink Me brooch was a gift from Lav :3

Details for the jewelry I bought. I had my outfit for Sunday planned out down to the last detail except that I didn't have a suitable necklace! I found this one at last at the stall of a very kind lady, her shop is called Hiekkakakku. She mostly had jewelry that looked like super realistic sweets, but there was the occasional Gothic piece - and there I saw this necklace and thought it was absolutely perfect. I cam back later because I made up my mind about buying something else but she was already gone ;__;

Then we went to the nearby cinema, where we had a healthy dinner at Hesburger (pff haha) and saw the (back then new) Alice in Wonderland movie. I had really liked the first part, the second on kinda less, story wise- The acting was great, as were the characters. And I felt that the dialogues were written in a strong attempt to sound like the "original" confusing-funny-weird Alice stories. But I feel like they only half-managed. In the end, it was very entertaining, and I would definitely watch another movie like this (if there will ever be one), but I was a little bit disappointed because it felt less "magical" than the one before (also, Alice had less outfits, Very disappointing! XD).

The great thing about cinema in Finland is that everything is shown in the original version with Finish subtitles. So it is really easy to watch movies as a foreigner - and you even get to practise your Finnish a little! In general, I was surprised that in very simple, daily conversations I still understand quite a bit of the language, especially written Finnish. It motivated me to learn languages again - but for now I feel that my brain is way to full with other stuff...

On our way home it was stormy and raining, and so cold! I was happy to be in my warm bed at the end of the day, to get some sleep before the second big event of the week end... to follow in the next entry!

1 comment:

It was such an awesome weekend! Ah ♡___♡ Still getting in this fantasy world daze just thinking about it!

It was lovely to meet you, even if it was just briefly..I'm quite awkward in such situations, sorry about that! x) I'm super nervous and then it comes out in being weird. Happy we got to talk to a little despite being a couple of shy ones. ♡

You were really pretty in the fashion show, the dress was perfect on you! It is gorgeous, too it is not available anymore, but I'm excited about getting the newer version soon!

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